While we usually talk about foreign financial institutions when sharing developments related to the cryptocurrency markets, some banks in Turkey, even those with foreign headquarters, have also taken steps in crypto. The latest was announced today and could make a lot of noise in the future.
Akbank Cryptocurrency
Akbank, one of Turkey’s largest private banks with an active size of $94 billion, purchased the majority shares of Stablex Information Technology Inc. through Ak Investment. Ak Investment, the dominant partner of the crypto platform, signaled future steps.
Although the signatures were made in May, the majority of shares were just bought. This step is the reflection of the strengthening preparation worldwide in Turkey. Traditional financial institutions expect the demand in the crypto field to strengthen particularly in the corporate segment over the next few years with Fed’s easing. The same applies to giants like BlackRock, who are striving for spot Bitcoin ETF approval.
Future of Cryptocurrencies in Turkey
The upcoming year will be a determining one for crypto, from taxation to law. With the clarification of the legal definition and the necessary regulations being made, it is expected that the foggy atmosphere in official transactions related to crypto will clear.
This will also pave the way for banks to offer crypto custody and swap services. Indeed, we had announced that Garanti BBVA started testing crypto services on August 4, 2023. They also mentioned planning to offer this service to customers next year.
It seems that just like the world’s largest financial institutions are striving to offer cryptocurrency investment services to their customers, Turkish banks are also continuing their efforts with the same intent. The fact that we have evolved from a world where crypto platforms were treated as suspicious transactions just a few years ago shows how much the market has grown.
In the future, we may see the launch of individual retirement products indexed to Bitcoin in Turkey shortly after the ETF approvals. Furthermore, a world where assets can be stored and bought/sold directly through bank applications does not seem too far away.
